NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts man has filed a $15 million lawsuit against the Northampton police, alleging excessive force during an arrest outside a city bar in 2014 caused him serious injuries.
Gregory Stevens, of Easthampton, says in the suit filed in Hampshire Superior Court that he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament, brain damage caused by asphyxiation, and heart palpitations when two officers apprehended him after he had been thrown out of the bar.
Stevens alleges officers put a boot on his head, forcing his face into the ground, placed knees in his back, and used an entire can of pepper spray on his hair.
The officers named in the suit no longer work for the city.
City officials said they could not comment because they had not been served the complaint.
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